The H.E.A.T conference organizers claim that their intention is to combat the sex trafficking of children and find “solutions” to “respond” to children coerced into sex work, in order to “Stop Human Exploitation and Trafficking.” We are here to expose the blatant LIE in this claim. The official, police-sanctioned campaign to combat the commercial sex trafficking of children is nothing more than a patronizing, patriarchal guise that is being used to support intensified repression of sex workers and the further empowerment of police agencies at their expense. This conference is actually a launching pad for measures that will increase policing, such as national coordination of police surveillance and the introduction of ballot initiatives to further criminalize prostitution in California. This is yet another instance of police and the criminal justice system colluding for increased policing in places where sex…